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Friday, April 30, 2021

The Technician

Now isn't that an interesting title? The Technician. And what does it have to do with this sailboat?

red and white sailboat

 
Actually, a lot! This sailboat, which I've named the 'QuiltFabrication' according to the picture, is another block for my son's beach quilt. I'll just add the sailboat to the palm tree and the beach umbrellas,

green palm trees and red and white umbrellas

the beach house, 

pink beach house with blue trim


and a few other fun blocks not shared just yet. Yes, progress is slow on this quilt, but isn't that the epitome of life at the beach? After all, it is a place to chill, go with the flow, and relax. 

When I designed my beach quilt, I wanted the blocks to be complex looking but ultimately, easy to put together. Sure, it's one thing to design in EQ, but a different story when translating the block to fabric. EQ doesn't come with construction instructions - I have to create that myself.

Which means I am a Technician when figuring out how to assemble a block in fabric so that matches my vision. 

Why am I using this Technician label? Well, hubby had me take a FREE, new style personality test from PrinciplesYou, which gave my main personality trait as 'Technician'. There are other scored areas too, one of them being 'creativity', which I scored low in. Go figure.

Anyway, after reading about the Technician personality, it hit me when constructing the boat at how correct the label was. Technicians have the ability to analyze how something works, using a methodical and practical approach to put it together. Those are the exact skills I employ to take that drawn boat to fabric reality.

I'll confess that the pretty red and white boat wasn't my one and only. It was actually my second boat, but the first pretty one. The test boat, the one from which all the construction notes were made, was this scrappy mess.

scrappy sailboat block


And mess it is! If you look hard enough, you'll see the sailboat. Believe it or not, I was very proud to show hubby this scrappy boat, mainly because I had figured out how to piece it with absolutely no paper piecing. Hubby, on the other hand, missed that point and wasn't impressed. Though I didn't win him over, I was also happy that this hard-to-envision test sailboat used up several large, hard-to-sort scrap fabrics - woohoo! 

After cleaning up my notes, I then easily followed along to construct the second sailboat, a pretty version. This time, hubby was impressed with my efforts! 

red boat white sail sailboat


Now the technician side of me kicks in again to take all of my construction notes and format them into a pattern so others can make a pretty sailboat - I'll keep you posted when it will be available. Until then, I'm sailing away to do some writing this weekend.

Happy Quilting!



 

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8 comments:

  1. I'm looking at that hippo fabric thinking oh that would be perfect for a "happy block." I understand being happy to "use" odd ball pieces of fabric when making samples. The boat really is great. Beach time is certainly not the same as home time.

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  2. I chuckled at the fabric combination in your test sailboat block. Hippos riding a sailboat from the Christmas season to a tropical jungle.
    Pat

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  3. I love it! Sometimes it takes a lot to impress our hubsters.

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  4. That's quite the process! Looking forward to seeing the entire quilt completed.
    Kathleen -- kakingsbury at verizon dot net

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  5. I really love your sailboat! it looks like it's plowing through the water!

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  6. You are so talented!!!!! Great looking sail boat!

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  7. The hardest part of using scraps is when it comes out PERFECT like yours and you want to take markers to correct the "color situation!" Love this block and this quilt will be stupendous (even with hippo fabric).

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  8. "...used up several large, hard-to-sort scrap fabrics..." lol! Win-win!

    Joyce
    jagireland@sbcglobal.net

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Thank you so much for commenting...you just made my day!